Are Racers Responsible for Knowing the Course?

At a 5K in Daytona, Florida, on February 7, race organizers disqualified the top 10 finishers for inadvertently cutting a half-mile off the course.

The route circled the Daytona Speedway along the 2.5-mile oval track, plus a 0.6-mile detour on the infield. Roughly a mile in, a volunteer in charge of directing runners mistakenly instructed the leaders to continue around the track instead of making a left turn onto the infield. The error was corrected for the rest of the field.

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The would-be winner, 10-year-old Dylan Nolan, led almost the entire race and crossed the line in 15:40, realizing right away that he ran a shorter distance. Nolan, along with the nine others who completed the wrong course, were informed of the disqualification right before the awards ceremony.

“This was absolutely not the runners’ fault,” Don Piercy, co-owner of the company that helped manage the race and issue the disqualifications, said. “It is unfortunate that the volunteer instructed them the wrong way.”

Though the race admitted fault, they decided to remove the 10 runners from the results, giving awards—engraved plaques—to the leaders who completed the entire distance.

The race sent an apology letter to all 10 runners and offered them free entry into next year’s race, plus a coupon for a free one-night hotel stay in Daytona.

According to Piercy, because the runners’ times did not reflect the whole course, his company had no choice but to issue disqualifications. “Really, from a timing standpoint, there is nothing you can do,” he said.

Runner’s World spoke with the race directors at the Portland Marathon and Pittsburgh Marathon to see how common mistakes like this occur, how they would react if something similar happened at their races, and how much runners themselves are responsible for knowing the course ahead of time.

Les SmithPortland Marathon Race Director

“I would say a runner does not need to know a course in advance. An event has the responsibility to 'lead' runners and provide guidance. If the event is negligent in that role then they arguably could be responsible and liable to the short-course award winners. For a multitude of reasons, an event is responsible for its course and guiding the runners (or late walkers) so they can use that course safely and correctly.

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“[At the 5K in Daytona] I believe the event screwed up. The 'PR' thing to do would be have two sets of winners. Those who ran the shorter course and those who ran the regular course get awards.That is probably not an expensive option to pursue. The event could make a fun thing out of the mistake and deliver the extra needed trophies after the fact.”

Patrice MatamorosPittsburgh Marathon Race Director

“If you are running a race that you may win, or have an opportunity to finish in the top 10, it’s your responsibility to know the course ahead of time. Because [the Pittsburgh Marathon] has prize money, we offer opportunities for elites to get to know the course before the race. And we clearly state that in anything with prize money there is a responsibility for the runner to know the course.”

“At the 5K in Daytona [which did not have prize money], if it was anybody else [that led the runners in the wrong direction], like someone at the aid station or a spectator, you would put the fault back on the runner. But because it was a race official, I would apologize to the runners, and have the games committee confer.

“At the Pittsburgh Marathon we have a games committee [five to six race organizers and officials] and their responsibility is to be at the start and finish in the event that there is a protest. They make sure runners have instructions and everyone knows the rules.

“As far as the Daytona event, it’s really hard to judge other people’s actions and I would never want to place judgment on the race director. But at the same time, it calls into question the processes you have in place for your worst nightmare, a course marshal leading people in the wrong direction. It is an honest mistake, but if you are running you are not thinking about going left or going right. When someone is telling you what to do you are going to do it."

Kit FoxSpecial Projects EditorKit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years.

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